Although Android Auto simplifies the mobile experience by restricting it to what is essential and useful while driving, there are still tasks that can mislead us while driving, such as WhatsApp messages. Our recommendation is to keep notifications at a distance, but if you decide to enable them and interact as well, These are the safest ways to reply and send WhatsApp messages with Android Auto.
When a WhatsApp notification appears
You are driving with your navigator on the Android Auto screen and listening to music (as you can see from these lines) and suddenly you receive a WhatsApp message. With Coolwalk, the WhatsApp notification will stay on the screen for a few minutesenough time for you to react when it suits you, for example, with the car stopped on the shoulder or at the gas station.
When you can, tap play (the “play” icon) to have the Google Assistant read the message to you, or say directly “Ok Google, read my messages” to read them to you without having to touch the screen. When the reading is finished, it will allow you to respond to them either with an intelligent answer or with what you dictate.
Note that with the ability to have the Google Assistant read messages to you and dictate the response, you will not give a single touch to the screenso your hands and eyes can stay fully focused on driving.
With the Google Assistant
Let’s imagine that while driving you feel the need to send someone a WhatsApp. In this case, the safest option is to ask the assistant using the command “Hey Google, send a message on WhatsApp“. Say it slowly and vocalizing so that I understand you well.
Then you will need to facilitate contact and later dictate the content of the message. As before, for best results Ideally, these should be clear and simple messagesotherwise what is captured by Google can be a disaster.
Keep in mind that there are three ways to summon the Google Assistant in Android Auto: by touching the microphone that you will see in the Android Auto taskbar, with the specific button for car voice commands and with the “ok Google” command, provided that we have previously activated it in the Android Auto settings from your phone. Be careful with the former as it involves touching the screen, which, as discussed below, is likely to be considered an offence.
The troublesome method
There is a third way to send WhatsApp messages on Android Auto: open the WhatsApp application from the main menu of the car console and press ‘New‘.
Then the Google voice assistant will appear so that we can tell it which contact we want to send the message to and dictate the message in question. Once done, Google Assistant will read us the message to send to confirm.
The problem with this method is that we will have to touch the Android Auto screen to access the main screen and touch there again to enter WhatsApp. While we didn’t use a contact picker or keypad when using voice commands, there are several keys on the screen that can be pricey, like having to take your eyes off the road and let go of the steering wheel.
Thus, article 76 of the law relating to traffic, motor vehicle traffic and safety mentions the fact that “These are serious offenses, when they do not constitute a crime (…) manual driving using mobile phone devices in conditions other than those described above, manual driving using navigators or any other means or communication system.“
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